1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stove apparatus, and is directed more particularly to such an apparatus as is suitable for cooking meals for large numbers of people in remote areas or field conditions, as in the case of feeding soldiers, relief workers, people displaced by war or climatic event, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide cooking devices for use in areas in which permanent cooking facilities are not available. Meals must be prepared for soldiers in the field, displaced persons, campers, victims of storms, and for recreational environments, large gatherings at entertainment sites, and numerous others.
The devices provided in the art range from basic “back yard” barbecues to fairly sophisticated cooking assemblies.
Some shortcomings of such devices include the lack of an evenly heated cooking surface. Typically, the cooking surface, or griddle plate, is well heated in a central portion thereof and less heated outwardly from the central portion.
Further, after an extended period of cooking, many of the stoves in use produce an uncomfortably high ambient temperature around the stoves, causing the cook to have to often step back from the stove for a period in cooler, fresher, air.
Still further, after a period of use, many stoves become hot throughout, such that even parts thereof, such as handrails, intended to facilitate grasping and moving parts of the stove, or the stove itself, become too hot to handle without heavy gloves.
Still further, the accumulation of grease and the sputtering thereof can occasion burns on the cook and splatter onto clothes or skin surfaces of near by-standers.
Still further, cooking devices of this type usually are made with built-in fuel support and burning means; there is typically no way to change fuels or types of burners, or the like.
Still further, most stoves of this type have no facility for selectively regulating the heat generated by burning fuel, other than manually increasing or decreasing the amount of fuel being burned.
Finally, in stoves of that type in which metal plates or other pieces join edge-to-edge, an extended period of heating can cause expansion of such pieces, such that they are jammed together, and separation thereof either requires a cooling off period or the dangerous handling of hot components.
Accordingly, there remains room for improvement in many areas of stove construction.